The present invention relates to the manufacture of wreaths, such as evergreen Christmas wreaths or desert wildflower wreaths, and specifically to supporting frames for mounting thereon decorative materials from which wreaths, and the like, are made.
In manufacturing wreaths, various wire frames have commonly been used to provide support for boughs which are assembled to form a wreath.
One typical example of a supporting frame for wreaths known on the market is a single wire ring with a plurality of U-shaped crossbars spot-welded to the ring, and equally spaced along its circumference. The greens are arranged into the U-shaped crossbars and then the legs of the U are brought together to secure the greens to the ring. Since the crossbars are uniformly spaced, this requires much labor to trim the twigs of the greens to the proper uniform length. When the U-shaped crossbar is squeezed together, the bunch on the wire becomes narrow and tall which results in an unattractive looking wreath. Also, as the U-shaped crossbars are squeezed together, the points protrude through the opposite side, further distracting from the appearance of the wreath and presenting a safety hazard. Furthermore, the manufacturing cost of the ring is relatively expensive.
Some other frame structures including, for example, single wire zigzags with no crossbars are also available on the market. These are relatively inexpensive, but the greens tend to roll off the face of the ring so the wreath does not retain its shape and the appearance of the wreath becomes deteriorated.
Other types of known supporting frames include double-wire rings with crossbars which serve to space the rings apart. Such structure of the supporting frame allows to form thereon a more attractive looking, flat and full wreath. The greens do not tend to roll off the face of the ring. However, the labor involved in securing the greens on such a frame is relatively high because they tend to slip around the ring in the process of assembly. Also, the cost of manufacturing the double wire ring is relatively high.